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Saturday, April 9, 2011

Matt and I were lucky enough to have his Mom come and watch James for us while we took a little trip to the Biltmore in Asheville! (side note: I've been spelling Asheville wrong for years, haha) We are going to celebrate our 5th anniversary this summer just before our newest little boy is born, so we decided it was a good time for a babymoon. We hadn't actually left James overnight yet, so it took us 14 months, but I wouldn't change a thing.

My favorite thing about the Biltmore: the architects tour where you get to go on all the balconies. I love a beautiful view myself, and they definitely had some. Check me out next to the 'not gargoyle' but 'grotesque' due to it not being hollow.

We had an awesome time. We ate at some really great places, which I know we were both looking forward to. We are food people, we don't go to the movies, we go out to dinner. haha. We were staying at the Grand Bohemian in the Biltmore village, so on Friday night we went to the Corner Kitchen. I want to eat there at least yearly. The best food of my life, seriously.

My handsome hubby and me on the 2nd balcony. We are kinda blocking the gardens behind us, but you can see the Italian landscape gardens, which are the pools behind me on the left. One if full of fish, one is full of water lilies (we missed those, man!), and the third was full of something else, haha, obviously not as cool as the water lilies or fish.

Yes, we had to have special passes on our tour because of their 'police' at the Biltmore. We had two rouge guests try to blend in with our tour and they were dismissed, ha.

This is the view from the last balcony- looking out from the back of the house. Pretty beautiful and it looks totally natural. Believe it or not, it is all landscaped. Yes, it was farmland originally so it was bare. Kinda crazy, but the landscape architect who did central park designed all the property. ps. George Vanderbilt owned all three mountain ranges. wow.

The roof was covered in copper which has oxidized over time. Here you see one of the panels with his initials on it. Can you imagine putting your initials on your house?? haha. Other fun fact: The roof is tiled with slate, which can grow a nasty mold. Guess what cleans it? Rain water over oxidized copper. SMART GV, very smart.

The front lawn. Really very cool when you drive up to the house. You are going through pretty heavy forrest, and then all the sudden, you round the corner and WOAH there it is. It's pretty huge, sorry no pictures of the front. You are actually forbidden to photograph it from the inside, so we took some on the roof top which was allowed.

View of the roof line in the center of the house over the beautiful wood and glass dome. You kinda get an idea of how huge it is. It's actually a little difficult to explain- too complicated! haha.

Matt and I had a great time. We went into Asheville on Saturday night and ate at Table, which was terrible. The most expensive, worst food I've ever had. A double thumbs down. If my mom had made what I ate, when I was a kid, it would have been labeled a mommy-disaster. But, the night was redeemed by the French Broad Chocolate Lounge, where we ate, you guessed it, chocolate. Which made this preggo mommy very happy. :-)

Overall a great weekend away. I am so blessed with an awesome husband and a fantastic son, and we wouldn't know what to do without our awesome family. Love you guys so much.

Today has been such a great day. Pancakes for breakfast. Hiking with a picnic lunch: good ole PB&J with some BBQ chips and an apple. 70 degrees with a nice breeze. Bakers Mountain, NC.

My FAVORITE moment of today: (yes I made this pictures obnoxiously big, haha)

watching my little man walking all over this patio while we sat and ate lunch. I mean wow, no crawling on the dirty floor, pulling up on the rails. nope. Just walking, picking up sticks, rocks, pine branches and carrying them all around. I laughed hardest when he asked for a chip, then picked up a rock in the same hand and crushed it. just precious. Looking forward to watching him run many more circles.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

We had the pleasure of taking our first weekend away since James was born last year! Matt's Mom and Dad drove up from FL to watch our little fella so we could go to Asheville and see the Biltmore! We had such an awesome time, and we came home to an Easter Egg hunt! My sister-in-law and her sweet girls were visiting us as well, and they joined in the fun. Really, isn't an Easter Egg hunt always more fun with more kids?? So we were lucky that A) James got to have an Easter Egg hunt with his Mimi and B) James could enjoy it with his cousins too!

Check out our little fella WALKING all over the yard and finding eggs! haha, he is definitely about 95% walking now, and that has only happened in this last week!!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

James owes a thank you to Olivia for having a bounce house at her birthday party. I got a few shots of James, Anna Kate, and Grady playing together, but most of them were just chaotic. haha go figure with our kids at this age!

Can you see our kids in this picture?? haha mine is trying to escape through the door.

This was an easy shot to get. This makes me laugh every time. Just about the only shot that makes sense looking at it, when you know its a girl's bounce 'castle.'